Open Government Campaign 2009

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Open Government Campaign 2009

Democracy Watch released the following documents in 2009 in its Open Government Campaign
(newest to oldest)

NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives' Accountability and Democratic Reform Record Earns Only an "E" Grade For Breaking Many Promises and Practising Politics As Usual -- Three Years After Federal Accountability Act Became Law, Dishonesty, Conflicts of Interest, Excessive Secrecy, Unlimited Donations and Patronage All Still Legal -- Another, Stronger Accountability Act Needed (December 16, 2009)
NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Liberals Reject Good Government Amendments to Their "Bad Government Act" -- Dishonesty, Secret Unlimited Donations, Secret Lobbying, Excessive Secrecy and Conflicts of Interest Still Allowed, and Independence of Public Inquiries Undermined (December 3, 2009) -- To hear related interview on CIUT Toronto's "Take Five" morning show, click here (NOTE: The interview starts starts at the 3:30 min. mark of the show, and ends at the 15:30 min. mark of the show)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Ontario Liberal government gives unjustifiable reasons for refusing to disclose details of contract for special prosecutor for Michael Bryant case (CTV.ca and 18 other media outlets, November 26, 2009) -- To hear related radio piece on CIUT Toronto's "Take Five" morning show, click here (NOTE: The piece starts starts at the 4 min. mark of the show, and ends at the 15 min. mark of the show)
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Federal Conservatives broke their whistleblower protection and open government election promises, as the Afghan prisoner scandal makes clear (National Post and Globe and Mail, November 24-25, Edmonton Journal, November 29, 2009)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal politicians should free Parliamentary Budget Officer and other officers of Parliament to release their accountability reports at any time (Hill Times, September 24, 2009)
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Marks Second International Day of Democracy -- Calls on Political Parties Across Canada to Make Much-Needed and Well-Known Democratizing Changes (September 15, 2009)
TESTIMONY AND NEWS RELEASE: Group's Final Policy Submission to Oliphant Commission Details 20 Unethical, But Still Legal, Actions By Cabinet Ministers and Others in Federal Politics, and 10 Key Flaws in Enforcement Systems -- Loopholes in Ethics and Openness Laws Must Be Closed, and Enforcement Strengthened, To Prevent Ethics Violations and Excessive Secrecy (July 31, 2009)
TESTIMONY AND NEWS RELEASE: Oliphant Inquiry's Policy Review This Week Opens Door to Closing Loopholes, Strengthening Enforcement of Federal Ethics, Lobbying, Political Finance and Open Government Rules (June 15, 2009)
WEBSITE EDITORIAL: Toronto Star (editorial about Canadian Press wire article) re: Federal politicians decide in secret meetings to create loopholes in their ethics rules to allow political party leaders to buy them off, decreasing their independence -- To see the Star editorial, click here (June 13, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal politicians decide in secret meetings to create loopholes in their ethics rules to allow political party leaders to buy them off, decreasing their independence (CTV.ca and 28 other media outlets across Canada (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), June 6-8, 2009)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal government still needs key democratic reforms (in part because of past Conservative and Liberal broken promises), but is more democratic and accountable than 20 years ago (Hill Times, May 11, 2009)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives have broken as many government accountability promises as they have kept, have failed to clean up the federal government and have increased voter cynicism, just like Jean Chretien's Liberals did (Canada.com and Nanaimo Daily News, April 8, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives have broken as many government accountability promises as they have kept, failing to clean up the federal government and increasing voter cynicism (Canada.com and 3 CanWest News Service newspapers, April 4, 2009)
TESTIMONY: Duff Conacher on needed changes to the federal Access to Information Act before the federal House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (March 30, 2009) -- To see Democracy Watch's submission to the Committee, click here
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives broken open government promises can be easily implemented by opposition parties given minority government (National Post, Toronto Star.ca, Globe and Mail.com and CBC.ca, February 27-28, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: House of Commons introduces new page on its website listing how MPs vote on bills and other matters (Hill Times, February 23, 2009)
NEWS RELEASE: Global Integrity 2008 Report Drops Canada From "Strong" to "Moderate" Level in World's Most Detailed Assessment of Government Integrity and Democracy (February 18, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Free food and drink receptions by lobbyists for federal MPs create conflicts of interest -- Ethics Commissioner's new guideline bans such gifts to Cabinet ministers, their staff and senior government officials (Canoe.ca, CTV.ca and 20 other media outlet websites across Canada (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), February 15, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta's Conservative government shows its opposition to open government by failing to set up registry of lobbyists more than two years after law creating registry was passed (Calgary Herald, February 13, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Department of Defence audit indicates similar oversight problems in communications contract as in past contracts, but details kept secret (Canada.com and 8 CanWest News Service newspapers across Canada, February 11, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch granted standing as a full party for Oliphant Commission of Inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair's review of federal ethics, political financing, spending and access to information laws and enforcement systems (Canoe.ca and 26 other media outlets across Canada (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), February 11, 2009)
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives broken open government promises can be easily implemented by opposition parties given minority government (Hill Times, February 9, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch seeks standing as party and/or intervenor in Oliphant Commission of Inquiry into Mulroney-Schreiber affair to recommend changes to federal ethics, political financing, spending and access to information laws and enforcement systems (CBC.ca and 29 other media outlets across Canada (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), January 22, 2009) -- To see Democracy Watch's submission, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal government institutions in a conflict of interest when investigating themselves (often in secret) in cases of wrongdoing -- independent, public investigations needed (CBC.ca and 29 other media outlets across Canada (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), January 18-19, 2009)

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